Victor Meldrew in the 21st Century

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The gift of life

When I die my property, investments and chattels will be passed to my nearest and dearest or a pre-determined list that I have nominated. But what about the greatest gift of all – “the gift of life”?

The NHS invite you to submit your details to their Organ Donor Register and England’s Chief Medical Office wants to introduce a system of “presumed consent” to tackle organ shortages, but why don’t we have a say in who will benefit from the ultimate donation?

Only 20% of the UK population have registered and I can’t help but think that this figure would be considerably higher if we were permitted to be choosy about the socio-economic group that our organs are destined to help.

I would readily register my details if I knew that my organs would be bestowed to a morally upstanding, hard working and deserving member of society. But the thought that I could possibly be helping to prolong the life of degenerate pond-life chavs, the sort of people I spend my life trying to avoid, is abhorrent enough to deter me from registering with the organ donor scheme.

In the same way in which a trustee executes the wishes of a will, we should be able to nominate a trusted third party who has the power of veto over those destined to benefit from our organ donations.

This idea will no doubt enrage the PC brigade, but why not permit a dead man his final wish and save a life in the process?